Sheriff Scott Israel no longer interested in talking about his ‘amazing leadership’

John SextonPosted at 3:21 pm on March 29, 2018

Sheriff Scott Israel hasn’t been appearing in the media much since his drubbing on CNN last month. During that interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, there were a lot of things Israel claimed he didn’t know and wasn’t responsible for but Israel still praised himself saying, “I’ve given amazing leadership to this agency.”

A local reporter named Bob Norman caught up with Sheriff Israel yesterday and asked him about a couple of things that still haven’t been resolved. Asked why his deputies didn’t go in to confront shooter Nikolas Cruz, Sheriff Israel said he wouldn’t talk about that until a state report on the incident was released. Norman also asked exactly how many deputies were outside citing an apparent conflict between Israel’s statements to Governor Scott and audio recordings in which two other deputies claimed to hear gunshots on the campus. Instead of responding, Israel began lecturing Norman about “misrepresentations” in his reporting.

Norman caught up with Sheriff Israel again at a meeting of the Weston Democratic Club held at a local restaurant. “How do you have time to politic when you’ve got all these problems?” Norman asked. Once again, Sheriff Israel went on the attack. From Local 10 News:

When reporter Bob Norman caught up with him outside the restaurant, Israel refused to answer questions, instead opting to criticize Norman’s reporting.

“If you’re disappointed in me, I think there’s a lot of people disappointed in you,” Norman countered.

“You know, I disagree with you,” Israel said.

“You haven’t heard?” Norman asked. “About the country being disappointed in you and the [Broward Sheriff’s Office]?”

“No, not at all,” Israel said. “My job is to protect and serve the Broward County residents.”

“Did you do that?” Norman asked. “Did you do that?”

“But when the report is in, we’ll have that conversation,” Israel said.

A report published by the New Yorkerearlier this month suggested Sheriff Israel has a long history of caring more about politics than the details of his job. Here’s the report from Bob Norman:

The report ordered by the governor is expected to be released next month. In an earlier report, Norman spoke to the head of the Broward police union who told him morale within the office was so low the union was considering a no-confidence vote against Sheriff Israel. However, Norman says sources tell him Israel plans to run for office again in 2020 even if he is removed from office by Gov. Scott. Here’s that report from last week.